Lawn Bowling Strategy and Tactics for Playing on End Rinks

Since the Vilamoura LBC here in Portugal shut down, the number of bowlers at the roll ups at  the  Valverde club in nearby Almancil has ballooned. All eight rinks are in use regularly. As a consequence, many more people end up playing on end rinks, where one boundary is only a few feet away from the side ditch. I was challenged by one of these rinks this week.

Although my team won the match, we lost two big ends where the opposition scored first five and then three shots. Analysis, after the match, suggested that these ends had something in common. In each instance, the opposition had the mat and  had  rolled a first bowl that blocked the draw from the more playable side, away from this ditch. In each of these ends I had changed  hands and attempted  deliveries that ran close to the ditch. None of these bowls ended within a meter of the jack. What had started out badly finished badly for my team.

The lesson seems to be that I should  have remained on the more playable hand; shifted my foot position on the mat, if I thought it would help, and tried to bowl around the apparent blocker. Even if my delivery were to collide with this troublesome bowl most likely the  impact would clear a path for subsequent bowls both mine and those of the rest of my team.

Thank Goodness for Valverde LBC; Different Practice Ends

Tish at Valverde LBC

Having just arrived in Vilamoura Portugal motivated by the opportunity to play lawn bowls, my wife and I learned on the second day that Vilamoura LBC is closed! The closure occurred in the middle of last October but knowing earlier would not have helped us; we had paid for our accommodation and plane tickets already.

The next closest club, Valverde LBC in Almencil, has had a sudden spike in membership bringing it past 100 members, who must all bowl on just eight rinks. This is not as bad as it might seem, because some of the membership only come in the summer months. Fortunately, because we also played at Valverde last year and since Tish has been in regular communication with their executive all during the year, we had been put on the list as regular members and so could count on a place to play. So far, in our first full week, Tish and I have bowled three times and although all the rinks were used we were still all playing the customary triples. We could accommodate sixteen more people if we went to playing fours but there does not seem to be any tradition of fours here. Similarly, I have never seen an in-club game of fours in Canada. In contrast, when the men play at Turramurra LBC in Sydney Australia it is not uncommon for more than half the rinks to be fours. 

A Warm-up Different from Practice Ends

 At Valverde, they play the first and second ends of a match with a maximum score of one for each of these two ends. This substitutes for practice ends and allows a player to scout out the 'lay of the land' going in each direction on the rink. Playing triples,this allows you to play, in each of the directions, two bowls on one hand and one bowl on the other without excessive consequences. It is important to take advantage of this opportunity. One should not struggle so hard to win these opening points that you fail to test the draw lines you are going to need throughout the match.